"And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matt 22:39 NIV) My neighbor that lives just down the hill from me has "adopted" the family that lives across the road from her. She joyously calls their children her grandchildren and the mother and...
"Judge not, that you be not judged." (Matt 7:1-2 NKJV) When I was a boy my family and I lived in my Grandma’s old house by the woods. Along one side of it ran a river that separated us from the main road. The only way over the water was across an old, wooden, swinging...
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need." (Rom 12:12-13 NIV) My new dog, Snoopy Girl is a morning person. She starts the day at full speed chasing her tail, the cats, and the other dogs. She wolfs down...
"I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." (Ps. 91:2 NIV) I remember when I first graduated college. I was already married with a baby son. I had an education degree but full time teaching jobs where I lived were scarce. For a...
"It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35 NIV) My toilet handle broke the other day. I knew that I had a few pieces left over from an another toilet repair a few years earlier. I decided then to dig them out and save a few dollars. I hadn’t...
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." (1 Tim 6:18-19...
"And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers . . ." (1 Cor 12:28 NIV) The poet Robert Browning once said, "Take away love and our Earth is a tomb." Thankfully, I have been able to choose love and avoid that tomb so far...
"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate." (Ps...
"and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Eph 5:2 NIV) I was looking at the calendar the other day and noticed that my 40th birthday is just a few months off now. I did a quick...
" . . . I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me." (Phil 2:17b-18 NIV) There is an old Cherokee expression that goes, "When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world...